Daimler's electric short-haul city trucks are coming to the U.S.

Daimler's Fuso eCanter trucks, which are fully electric and have a range of 60 miles per charge, are making their way to the U.S. for the first time (via Reuters) for customers in New York City.

Daimler's Fuso eCanter trucks, which are fully electric and have a range of 60 miles per charge, are making their way to the U.S. for the first time (via Reuters) for customers in New York City. Daimler's announcement of the move for its Mitsubishi Fuso trucking unit comes at the same time as Elon Musk has set the reveal of Tesla's all-electric semi truck for October 26.

The eCanter can handle a payload of over 10,000 lbs, and seats up to three in the cabin. It's designed for hauling goods within cities with a large physical footprint, though it lacks the longer range of long-haul vehicles. Tesla's semi truck is reportedly going to offer between 200 and 300 miles of range on a single charge, which would make it more suitable for medium length trucking runs between cities.

Both are still far under their diesel-powered equivalents in terms of driving range, but in a city setting the Fuso makes a lot of sense when you facto in fuel cost and potential maintenance savings, and Daimler offers it in various configurations with more or less range and battery capacity depending on how much cargo area a customer is willing to give up.

The eCanter already has a Japanese customer by way of Seven-Eleven, which is set to put 25 of the trucks into operation in the country.